Norristown residents, council members discuss qualities of the next police chief

Norristown Municipal Council Members and members of the public gather for a round table discussion about the search for a new police chief at the Montgomery County Norristown Public Library, Thursday, March 7, 2013. Photo by Adrianna Hoff/Times Herald Staff.

NORRISTOWN ­­— Seven residents and five Norristown Council members met at the Montgomery County Norristown Public Library Thursday night to talk about what qualities the Norristown community wanted in a new police chief.

Councilman Marlon Millner said council wanted to be transparent about the selection process.

“The search firm is going to do the lion’s share of the evaluation work,” Millner said. “We will be counting on them to make recommendations.”

Millner described the winnowing process that SafeCity Solutions will conduct to reduce the applicant pool to three finalists.

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“Public safety. Enforcing the parking regulations. An approach to parking enforcement that is fair and consistent,” one man said.

Robert Ross said that the schools and the perception of crime were two things that distinguished Norristown from the surrounding communities.

“My perception is that community members knew who was involved in violent shootings that took place recently,” Ross said. “We’ve got to find a solution to that.”

Theresa Linder described a neighborhood meeting with former police Chief Russell Bono and Norristown police to talk about crime problems in the neighborhood.

“Doing something like that even twice a year would be good,” she said. “It was important that he was there at that meeting. I liked that it was at someone’s home.”

One man said that he would prefer a police chief who was already a member of the Norristown Police Department.

Millner said the selection process was not set up to favor a local ranking police officer.

Councilman William Caldwell asked if the woman wanted a police chief who was responsive to the resident’s requests. She responded that was an important quality in a new police chief.

“I would look for a hunger in a police chief who wants to excel at his job,” Ross said. “I want someone who can create that hunger in police officers. There has to be a way to be friendly and kind and also stern and fair.”

Caldwell said that although he had initially expected that it would be difficult to find another police chief, the companies that competed to do the search process reassured council members that Norristown was a place that would attract a strong field of candidates.

“I hope we are going to have a tough time deciding,” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said the police contract has not required police to live in Norristown since 1998.

Ross said he hoped “race would not be central to the selection process.”

Millner said he admired a white, Irish-Catholic police chief in Baltimore who was eager to challenge the black pastors of Baltimore churches.

Al Johnson, the commander of the American Legion Post 39 in Norristown, said his daughter got into trouble at the age of 13, and he wanted the community to have programs to steer his daughter, now 23, toward a better path.

Council President Gary Simpson said the Philadelphia District Attorney had started counseling programs for youth offenders caught in minor scrapes.

“In the past there was a lot more sensitivity among the police,” Johnson said. “If we want to make this a better place, we need to have more interaction.”

Councilwoman Linda Christian said one resident was looking for a police chief candidate who would look for creative solutions to policing problems.

Simpson asked for more residents to attend the second public meeting on March 14.

“I’m very concerned about the low turnout tonight given the importance of the search process is to the community,” Millner said. “I hope the next meeting at the Human Services building will be full.

The municipality has already received 33 applications for the job, said Interim Municipal Administrator Robert Glissen. The application deadline is March 11.

The professional advertisement requires candidates to have “at least 15 years as a certified police officer and possess a minimum of seven years of recent administrative and supervisory experience as a lieutenant or higher level within a similar or larger-sized department that serves an urban community. A minimum of a bachelor’s degree and a record of continuing career education and development that includes graduation from the FBI National Academy or similar executive level law enforcement training are preferred.”

The second public meeting on March 14 will be held from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Montgomery County Human Services Center, 1430 DeKalb St.